Motor fuels of high octane value



United States Patent MOTOR FUELS OF HIGH OCTANE VALUE Warren NevinNorton Knight, Sunbury-on-Thames, England, assignor to The BritishPetroleum Company Limited, Finsbury Circus, London, England, a Britishjointstock corporation No Drawing. Application December 27, 1956 SerialNo. 630,764

Claims priority, application Great Britain January 11, 1956 1 Claim.(Cl.'20862) This invention relates to the production of high octanemotor gasolines of adequate volatility. I

Catalytic cracking and hydroforming are among the processes whichcontribute to the production of high octane gasolines. In the catalyticcracking process, a petroleum feedstock boiling above the gasolineboiling range is cracked in the presence of a catalyst to producehydrocarbons boiling in the gasoline boiling range, while in thehydroforming process, petroleum naphthas that have a low octane numberare contacted at elevated tempera- 1 ture in the presence of hydrogenwith a catalyst capable of converting naphthenes into aromatics to givea product of greatly increased octane number. A hydrotorming processthat has been widely adopted uses a platinumcontaining catalyst and sucha process will hereinafter be referred to as platinum reforming.

In the specification of the copending application Ser. No. 622,259,filed November 15, 1956, now Patent No. 2,897,027, there is describedthe preparation of high octane motor gasoline of adequate volatility byblending between 40% and 60% by volume of a high octane, low volatilitycomponent consisting of the higher boiling fraction of a platinumreformate, constituting 40% to 60% by-weight of the platinum reformate,and between 60% and 40% byvolume of a high octane, high volatilitycomponent consisting of the lower boiling fraction of catalyticallycracked gasoline having an end boiling point between 80 and 120 C. As aresult, there remains a light, that is, lower boiling, fraction of theplati num reformate having a relatively low octane number and highvolatility and constituting 40% to 60% by.

weight of the platinum reformate, and a heavy, that is, higher boiling,fraction of the catalytically cracked gasoline, having a relatively highoctane number and low I Research with 1.5 ml. TEL/1G.

The conditions under which the thermal. reforming treatment should becarried out will depend upon the properties of the blend and thoserequired in the final product, but in general the following conditionswill be found to be suitable:

Temperature 1000 to 1200 F.

Pressure 200 to 1200 p.s.i.g.

Conversion Up to 25% wt. C

and lighter.

The invention will now be described with reference to the followingexample.

Example In the specification of the aforesaid copending application Ser.No. 622,259, now Patent No.-2,897,027, a high octane gasoline isdescribed comprising 55% by volume of a light catalytically crackedgasoline having a boiling range of C to 100 C., and 45% by volume of a45% Weight platinum reformate residue. The associated light platinumreformate and heavy catalytically cracked gasoline when blended togethergive a gasoline of 82 Research octane and a volatility of 50.5%evaporated at 100 C. Inspection data on these materials are given in thefollowing table.

Blend 63% vol. light Light Heavy platinum plati- Cat. reformate, num re-Cracker 37% vol. formats Gasoline heavy cat.

cracker gasoline Sp. 2!. F 0. 7150 0.8175 0. 7520 ASTM Distillation:

IBP, C 31. 5 100. 5 35 2% vol. recovered "O 40 113. 5 43 5% vol.recovered C 43. 5 117. 5 48. 5 10% vol; recovered C 48. 5 123 56. 5 20%vol. recovered G.. 56. 5 133 72 30% vol. recovered O-. 66 143 82. 5 40%vol. recovered C 74. 5 150. 5 90 50% vol. recovered C. 80 158 100. 5 60%vol. recovered O 88. 5 165. 5 117 70% vol. recovered O 93 175. 5 136vol. recovered C 101. 5 187. 5 155 vol. recovered C- 113 201. 5 181 FBPvol. recovered, C... 129 223 204 Total distilled, percent vol 98 99Residue, v 0.8 0.8 0- 5 Loss, vol 1. 2 0.2 1. 5 Recovery 70 0., v l 3519 Recovery 100 0., v 78 49 Recovery 140 0., vol 27. 5 Aromatics,percent 25.5 25.0 25.0 Octane number Research 75.0 92. 7 82. 0 Octanenumber Motor 72. 4 80.0 74. 2

This blend was thermally reformed at 750 p.s.i.g and 1050 F. to aconversion of 19% Weight C and lighter,

and gave a gasoline (67% weight yield) of 97.5 octane number Researchclear (100 Research octane number+l.5 ml. TEL/1G) and a volatility of42% evaporated at 100 C.

I claim:

A process for the production of a motor gasoline of at least 100 octanenumber (Research) with 1.5 ml. TEL/1G, which comprises separating aplatinum reformate into lower boiling fraction constituting between 40%and 60% by weight of the reformate and having a relatively low octanenumber and high volatility, and a higher boiling remainder constitutingbetween 60% and 40% by weight of the reformate and having a high octanenumber and low volatility; separating a catalytically. cracked gasolineinto a lower boiling fraction having an end boiling point between 80 andC., and a higher boiling remainder having a relatively high octanenumber and low volatility and an initial boiling point between 80 and120 C.; blending together said lower boiling fraction of said platinumreformate and said higher boiling remainder of said catalyticallycracked gasoline;

thermally reforming the resultant blend at a temperature of 1000" F. to1200 F. and a pressure of 200 to 1200 p.s.i.g to effect a conversion ofup to 25% wt. of the blend to C and lighter; and, recovering, as aproduct, a

motor gasoline of at least 100 octane number (Research) with 1.5 ml.TEL/1G.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS2,160,872 Kemp L... June 6, 1939 2,431,515 Shepardson Nov. 25, 19472,479,110 Haensel Aug. 16, 1949 2,532,615 Ewell Dec. 5, 1950 2,684,325Deansely July 20, 1954 2,891,901 Donaldson June 23, 1959 2,897,132,Kuight July 28, 1959

